According to HubSpot, most business’ main priority from marketing is to generate more sales leads. However, an earlier study by the same firm revealed that, for more than 60% of respondents, generating traffic and leads is the biggest challenge that they face. With more than 675 million members, more than 28 million of whom live in the United Kingdom, LinkedIn is an outstanding lead generation tool, particularly for firms in the business to business (B2B) sector. So, how can you leverage LinkedIn to reach potential customers, generate sales and grow your company?
LinkedIn – A Brief Guide For Marketers
If you haven't used LinkedIn before, don't worry. The platform isn't difficult to use. Follow these simple steps and you'll be on your way to success:
1) Join The Website & Set Up Your Company Page
LinkedIn allows individuals to set up personal profiles, while businesses can set up company pages. You'll need to set up a personal profile before you can set up a profile for your business. Your company page should contain your logo, a description of your company, a link to your website, calls to action, and content and images to promote your brand. It should also be optimised for search engines. Ask your employees to link their profile pages to it and invite existing contacts to follow you on the platform so you can begin to create connections.
2) Post Engaging Content
You can post original content on your LinkedIn company page in the same way that you can on a blog. However, it's important to create content that will interest the people visiting your profile. Try to avoid posting anything that's simply a sales pitch, as this isn't likely to yield results. Create long-form thought pieces, educational content, or posts about the hottest topics in your sector. Include media such as images, videos, PowerPoint presentations and PDFs too. You can even add live video content – something that could really boost engagement.
3) Use LinkedIn's Marketing Tools
Unfortunately, "if you build it, he will come", the famous quote from Field of Dreams, doesn't apply when it comes to marketing, so you'll need to drive people to your page. Luckily, there are a host of tools that you can use, including:
- LinkedIn Groups - These are hubs for people working within specific industries. Joining or setting up relevant groups and engaging with other members of them will enable you to find people who might be interested in buying your products or services.
- LinkedIn Advertising – There are several different types of paid adverts that you can use. Firstly, you can use Text Ads, which are pay-per-click adverts that will appear on various pages of the site. You can also create personalised adverts using Dynamic Ads campaigns. You can promote specific posts from your LinkedIn page using the Sponsored Content programme or send adverts directly to members' inboxes using the Sponsored Messaging option. You can even create LinkedIn Video Ads. When using these programmes, however, it's crucial to target your adverts correctly and monitor the results.
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator - This is a tool which helps sales teams to find prospective clients on the platform, engage with them, and manage their relationships with them. You can find out more about how to use it in this handy guide.
Next Steps
If you still aren't sure how to generate leads for your small business using LinkedIn, get in touch with one of our social media marketing specialists today. We can help you to develop a comprehensive action plan you can implement straightaway, so get in touch to find out more about our LinkedIn advertising agency service.
Image source: Pixabay
